What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know: Preparing Your Child for a Lifetime of Learning (Core Knowledge Series)

Since different states and school systems have different opinions as to what a child should know at what age, this book may not necessarily cover what your child has or is about to learn in your local school. From my analysis, the book covers more information from a cultural awareness perspective. This means that is basically is filled with things your child should have been exposed to by this point. They may not KNOW these things or be able to recite everything from this book, but they should have some awareness or have had some exposure to it at this point.

When my children and I received this book, our first Core Knowledge book by Hirsh, we went through the books table of contents page with a pencil and marked off everything they knew. My children are in the 3rd and 1st grade, and the 1st grader "KNEW" much more of the items, which to me means she remembered more items since she had been exposed to them more recently. Although the word KINDERGARTEN was written boldly across the front, they took great joy in my reading the fables and testing them on the geography and math question at bedtime.

I purchase these books in anticipation of beginning homeschooling, but we could not wait to get started on this series. I recommend this and the other books in this set to anyone considering homeschooling or even school-schooling. It is great fun to interact with your children and amazing to find out what they actually know.

Contents include, but are not limited to:
Teaching your child to read and write
Introduction to literature
Nursery rhymes, poems, and Aesop's Fables
Children's Stories like Three Billy Goats Gruff
Simple history and geography, especially American
Visual arts and music
Math and math readiness
Science including plants, weather, animals, and the human body, all at a "Kindergarteners Level"


This well rounded book covers all the bases!   November 3, 1999
Melissa Ickowski (melissa@myhost.com) (New Jersey)
37 out of 38 found this review helpful

I was really glad to share this book with my child. It gave me a million rainy day ideas. Great for the preschooler! I loved the way it incorporated classic tales, nursery rhymes, mathematic basics, geography and scientific information in a way that is both simple and exciting. The activities are really enriching and interesting to the child. Every parent should own a copy of this book!


A very informative book.   January 17, 1998
21 out of 21 found this review helpful

The book is full of a lot of information. I'm using "What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know" as the base book for homeschooling my daughter. Not only are there many recommendations but, there are complete stories and songs in the book to allow you to teach without having to purchase other books. There is more information in the book than I thought my daughter could comprehend. But, I offer some of the information to her and she understands and wants more. If you want to know what your child should be learning or want an excellent book for a base for homeschooling, I highly recommend "What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know".


Very Useful!   November 28, 2001
apoem (Bosque Farms, NM USA)
30 out of 32 found this review helpful

When I bought this book, I expected to see more of a checklist of what my child needed to know for Kindergarten and what my child would learn in Kindergarten. As a former Kindergarten teacher, I have an idea of what is needed, but I wanted it in writing. What I got was different, but not bad.

This book is devided into sections: reading, writing, art, etc.
There are whole stories, poems, songs, and lessons for a kindergartener. While I don't expect that it will be enough for teaching a whole year of Kindergarten at home, I think it will be a great start. The emphasis is placed on reading (rightly so I think). I would like to see more in the math section though. I find that the art section is lacking, while the Social Studies section has much more than I would expect a Kindergartener to know. I hope I'm pleasantly suprised in that area.

For information purpose it is not in a themematic form. It does cover many of the things that you would expect to see in a classical education (artists, authors, paintings etc). But it is lacking if you want a fully classical education.

While there a few resources, there are not near as many as I would like to see. I'd also like to see a comprehensive, overall list of what a child is expected to know before and after Kindergarten.

While it seems that I have discussed many of the points I see that need improvement, I think this book is great. It is probably the most comprehensive one book you can find for helping your child in Kindergarten. This would be a great start for homeschooling parents who don't want to spend a lot of money. It is a great book for parents who want to help their child learn prior to and during kindergarten but aren't really sure what to do.

I would buy this book. Just be aware of the limitations and be prepared to suppliment those areas.


Very useful book   February 7, 2003
Christine Connally (Bowie, MD)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

I am a firm believer in the Core Knowledge Sequence. I love the way this book tells what they should be learning and provides information that you can teach directly from the book. It also arranges concepts in a specific order to facilitate learning.

As a part-time homeschooling mom, I find it amazing how much my son's private school education is lacking. If it were not for my supplementing his education with the Core Knowledge Sequence, he would not be learning much beyond reading and math. This book is great at helping you fill in the gaps in your child's education. I feel that it goes way beyond the basics that most children are receiving in public and private schools. It has opened my eyes to how much you really can introduce to a kindergartener. This book will help you give your child a strong foundation for future learning. I plan to full-time homeschool my son for first grade using the Core Knowledge Sequence. BTW, they have a great website....